Let's Learn Japanese: Japanese writing system - developed lesson of the alphabet

there are three kinds of characters in japanese : hiragana , katakana and kanji

all three characters can be used in a single sentence
example:
これはエンジニアの本です
this is a book about engineer

これは : hiragana
エンジニア: katakana
本 : Kanji

-hiragana and katakana like the alphabet represent sounds
-kanji or chinese characters represent not just sounds but also
meanings used for nouns and the stems of verbs and adjectives

HIRAGANA

◕ there are 46 basic hiragana syllables
◕ has a roundish shape
◕ used for :
   -conjugation endings
   -function words
   -native japanese words

hiragana principle characters table

Hiragana with Diacriticals Marks
you can transcribe 23 additional sounds by adding diacritical marks
with a pair of short diagonal strokes ( " )
k" = g
s" = z
t" = d
h"= b
h°= p (smal circle ° is special of h letter )

Hiragana with Diacriticals Marks

Transcribing coutracted sounds :

small ぁ,ゅ,and ょ follow after letters in the second column
(i-vowel hiragana exepte い ) and are used to transcribe
countracted sounds .
the contracted sound represents a single syllable

Transcribing coutracted sounds for hiragana

Transcribing double consonants :
there is another small letter っ,wich is used when transcribing
double constants such as tt and pp.

examples :
かった　katta (won)
さっか sakka (writer)
はっぱ happa (leaf)
わっし zasshi (magazine)

note:
we don't use っ　with double n (nn)
examples :
さんねん　sannen (3 years)
あんない　annai (guide)

Other issues relating to transcription and pronunciation :
long vowels :
when the same vowel is placed one right after the order , the pronunciation
of the vowel becomes about twice as long as the single vowel

aa ... おばあさん　obaasan

KATAKANA
◕ with straight lines
◕ used for loanwords and foreign names
◕ the same as hiragana you can find :
   -katakana with Diacriticals Marks
   -Transcribing coutracted sounds
   -Transcribing double consonants ...